


A Disaster

by amassivehomosexual



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: ADHD!Lance, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 02:18:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7739659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amassivehomosexual/pseuds/amassivehomosexual
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance runs out of meds and everyone has a bad time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Disaster

**Author's Note:**

> This didn't have to be Shancey, but I'm gay so
> 
> I might elaborate on this idea further, but I just wanted to try it out!
> 
> (This is mostly taken from the experiences of a close friend of mine who has ADHD and a quick skim of a WebMD article or something; sorry for any inaccuracies!)

When Lance described ADHD to Allura for the first time, she didn’t concern herself over it too much. Lance told her he had packed all the medication he could, but that he would run out eventually. She assured him she’d reverse engineer a substitute before that could happen, but time got away from her, what with saving the universe from impending doom and whatnot. The effects of Lance’s condition didn’t seem like they’d be anything too terrible, anyway; Lance was already easily distractible and energetic, she was sure he wouldn’t be anything they couldn’t handle. It could wait.

She was very, very wrong.

Everyone had already gotten a taste of Lance without medication. It tended to wear off by nightfall. Lance would get jittery and make even more terrible jokes, but that was the extent of it. They weren’t expecting the nightmare that was Lance without stimulants.

The first discovery was that Lance transformed into a bottomless pit. It seemed so, anyway. Shiro watched in awe as Lance binged at lunch, barely pausing to chew between bites. When Shiro went to retrieve him from his bedroom for training, he also unfortunately watched as Lance emptied his stomach. He rushed to Lance’s side and put a comforting hand on Lance’s back as he retched.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “Do you want to skip training?”

Lance wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and flushed away his mess. “Nah, man, I’ll come. I just…” He grins at Shiro, a little unsettled. “Kind of forgot what it’s like to have an appetite like that.”

Shiro frowns. “Okay… Don’t push yourself.”

He soon regrets allowing Lance to train. Lance is scattered all over, completely unable to focus on any given task. He runs Shiro into the walls of the maze too many times to count and is struck down almost immediately when they move on to the shielding exercise. Shiro isn’t sure why they even decide to try the mind meld with Lance like this. Everyone’s patience is wearing thin, and it takes everything inside Shiro to stop himself from scolding Lance. He’s clearly just as frustrated with himself.

Even at dinner, things are exhausting. Lance is as big a chatterbox as usual now that he’s consciously trying not to sicken himself. However, it’s almost impossible for him to keep a conversation going. He can’t pay attention long enough to listen to anyone and even gets distracted in the middle of his own stories. Shiro is pretty sure Keith is one “sorry, what?” away from making a grab for Lance’s throat. 

Things do not get easier as the days go on. Allura and Coran devote all their available time to coming up with a solution, and although Pidge is better with mechanics than medicine, they lend a hand as well. Lance gets much testier with Keith, what was once playful bickering turning into something a little more biting. He earns an earful from Allura when he loses his bayard (Hunk is the one who finds it; it made its way to the kitchen somehow). He’s prone to severe mood swings now as well, especially as tensions get higher in the castle.

Shiro does his best to help Lance out. He gets Lance to sit and meditate with him in the mornings and evenings, and he spars with him until they’re both wiped. It helps marginally at best. Sparring concerns Shiro even more. Lance is too easily distracted and doesn’t think his movements through. If they get attacked by Galra forces before Lance can get back to normal, careless mistakes like these could get him killed. 

They’re meditating one night when Lance cracks. Shiro hears a shaky breath and opens his eyes to find Lance rubbing tears from his face. Shiro is stunned for a moment, but hurries to compose himself.

“What is it?” Shiro murmurs, moving closer. Lance shakes his head and laughs weakly.

“Sorry, this is embarrassing,” he hiccups. “I’m just mad at myself.”

Shiro pulls Lance into his chest. “Hey. None of this is your fault.”

“Everyone’s still mad at me, though.”

“No one is mad at you, Lance.” Shiro rubs his back. “It’s just stressful. It’ll be hard to fight like this.”

“It’ll be impossible to form Voltron,” Lance huffs. “I’ve always been the weakest link, and now I’m even more useless, somehow, and–”

“Woah, woah! None of that is true!” Shiro pulls back enough to make eye contact with him. “You’re extremely valuable to the team. You know that, right?”

Lance looks doubtful. It hurts Shiro’s heart.

“Lance. I could list all the great things about you for hours. Just because you’re not your best self right now doesn’t make you useless.” Lance looks down, so Shiro nudges his face back up. “We’ll figure it out, okay? Don’t beat yourself up.”

His lower lip wobbles. “But I can’t even focus on you, and you’re  _ everything _ to me,” Lance whines. He doesn’t seem to realize the implications of his words. Shiro fights down a blush; now is  _ not _ the time.

“It’ll be okay. You’re smarter than you give yourself credit for.”

“Shiro–”

“I promise.” 

Lance sniffles one last time and nods his head. “I’m sorry.”

“There’s no need to apologize, I know you’ve been frustrated.” Shiro smiles and ruffles his hair. “Thank you for talking to me.”

Lance absolutely beams at Shiro. His heart hurts in a completely different way.

The next morning, Allura rushes into breakfast with a handful of little purple tablets. She slams them onto the table in front of Lance. Her hair is puffed up into a tangled mess, and she has bags under her eyes; it’s clear she didn’t get much sleep. “These are as close as we can get. Please, take them.” Lance has one down before she can even finish talking. There’s a sigh of relief from everyone.

“Don’t relax yet! If it’s anything like the old stuff, it’ll take an hour to kick in,” Lance informs everyone with a smirk. Pidge groans and presses their forehead to the table. Shiro meets Lance’s eyes and smiles at him.

Thankfully, the makeshift medicine seems to do its job. Things go back to normal, for the most part. The only difference is that Lance keeps joining Shiro to meditate.

Shiro is surprised when he joins him after breakfast the first time. “You want to keep doing this?”

Lance nods, looking almost bashful. “It made me feel better. I’m still pretty scattered even with meds.” He toes at the floor. “And besides, I… I like spending time with you.”

Shiro laughs and pulls him into a side hug. “I’m glad.”

“Hey, Shiro?” Lance wraps a thin arm around Shiro’s waist as well.

“Yeah?”

He tilts his chin up to press a kiss to Shiro’s cheek. “Thanks for helping me out.” Lance presses his lips tight together and returns his gaze to the floor. He moves to untangle himself, but Shiro just presses him firmly into his side and buries his nose in soft hair to hide his hot cheeks.

“Anytime.”


End file.
